about

About Jeffrey Saad

Jeffrey Saad Jeffrey Saad first hit the Screen with his success as runner up on Season 5 of The Next Food Network Star. After years of owning restaurants and being a passionate chef it was a dream come true. He was then the host of the hit Cooking Channel series United Tastes of America which ran for three seasons. Jeffrey is a skilled chef who has created and contributed to many successful restaurants, including San Francisco’s Sweet Heat, Pasta Pomodoro and The Grove. His insatiable appetite for ingredients and flavors and encyclopedic knowledge of spices allows him to create "food without borders." Teaching home cooks to cook locally and eat globally is his passion, and his first cookbook Jeffrey Saad’s Global Kitchen: Recipes Without Borders (Ballantine, March 2012) takes the reader on a culinary trip around the world—no passport required!

From Burger Flipper to Cooking Kingpin

At the American Cheese loving age of 13, Jeffrey started his career working in a diner behind his junior high school. He realized he had the "hospitality gene" and never looked back. The Chicago native enrolled in the Hotel Restaurant Management Program at Iowa State, earning his first official title as chef de cuisine in his sophomore year by taking over the kitchen of the restaurant he was working in. Enamored with food, he continued his training at the Culinary Institute of America and the California Culinary Academy with a master plan to open his own place upon graduation. In 1993, Jeffrey traveled to Mexico, determined to cook his way across the country for inspiration. Finding the flavorful yet casual cuisine a natural fit, he opened the Mexican-influenced Sweet Heat in San Francisco’s Marina District, a runaway success that led to two more restaurants and his own signature line of bottled chutneys and the woman of his dreams; now his wife.